How does an employer claim LKV or wage-cost subsidy?
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Detailed explanation, checklist and sources
LKV uses payroll tax returns with register checks or a target-group declaration. Municipal wage-cost subsidy is requested from the employee’s municipality. Unlike UWV wage dispensation, municipal subsidy does not permit pay below minimum wage.
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1. Your situation
LKV covers disabled employees and the jobs-agreement group. Check employee insurance and AOW age. The disability route excludes WSW and municipal sheltered work. The jobs-agreement route needs registration and excludes Participatiewet sheltered work and WSW, except WSW secondments. Interns need paid placements with payroll withholding and a declaration.
2. Conditions
For new disabled employees, UWV checks no employment with the same employer in the previous six months plus qualifying WIA/equivalent EU benefit, legacy WAO/WAZ or the specific below 35% WIA route. Redeployment has different WIA timing. Keep benefit/employment dates: a diagnosis alone is insufficient. From 2026, permanently incapacitated Wajong recipients in regular work and IVA with wage dispensation can enter the register, added monthly retrospectively. Former educational/sheltered groups do not qualify automatically: check registration or a valid old declaration, at most three years.
3. Preparation
The employee requests the declaration within three months of starting or redeployment. For work during the WIA waiting period: three months after 104 weeks or receipt of the WIA award. Sending date counts; lateness loses entitlement. EU/EEA/Swiss benefit: call UWV for paper. Authorisation has two parts; an employer submits through portal/Digipoort, other representatives by post.
4. Apply
UWV acknowledges within two weeks and decides within eight, or thirteen if information is missing. Give the employer a copy. For jobs-agreement LKV, the employer checks registration before employment. Set up payroll returns for each qualifying period: the applicable LKV indicator must be J for every claimed period, with BSN, insurance indicator and correct income-relationship code. Do not wait for the annual calculation, which follows in the next calendar year. Keep payroll choice and evidence; business transfers can retain entitlement, with declaration retained.
5. Decision
Annual cycle: payroll return by 31 January; check provisional UWV calculation by 15 March. Correct erroneous returns before 1 May with the Tax Administration. If returns are correct but calculation is wrong/missing, call UWV. Final calculation by 31 July; payment within six weeks, possibly tax-debt offset. Multiple LKV claims for one worker are not added: highest amount only. Challenge the final decision with the Tax Administration.
6. Next steps
For wage-cost subsidy, approach the employee’s municipality. It assesses wage value and reimburses the employer’s difference from minimum wage; ask for the local form, documents and decision. Minimum wage remains due. If a municipal Participatiewet worker leaves sick and subsidy was paid within two years, UWV informs the municipality, which has a reintegration role.
Can the declaration wait until the payroll claim?
No. It has its own three-month deadline from the applicable starting point. Arrange it promptly with the employee; the later LKV cycle does not extend it.
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- Group and insurance
- Employment and benefit dates
- Register/declaration and three-month limit
- Authorisation and receipt
- Payroll and annual calendar
- Municipal wage value and decision
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UWV · Loonaangifte per tijdvak ↗UWV · LKV ↗UWV · LKV arbeidsbeperking ↗UWV · LKV banenafspraak ↗UWV · Doelgroepverklaring ↗UWV · Aanvragen en ontvangen ↗UWV · Loonkostensubsidie ↗Sources may be in Dutch. General information about Dutch law, not individual legal advice.